U.S. home sales rose in 2012. (Creative Commons)

Despite the dip, overall home sales rose nearly 20 percent in 2012 to roughly 367,000, up from 306,000 in 2011. Median home prices continue to rise and the foreclosure rate is at its lowest point in four years, leaving many economists optimistic about continued economic recovery.

"This should prove to be a temporary blip as the U.S. housing market continues its gradual recovery," Andrew Grantham, an economist at CIBC World Markets in Toronto, told Reuters. 

Others are less sanguine about recovery. Yale University professor and co-creator of the S&P/Case-Shiller property value index Robert Shiller warns, "The short-term indicators are up now, it definitely looks better, but we saw that in 2009," according to Bloomberg. 

"It’s also a very bad housing market in that most of the mortgages are being supported by the government, and we have the Fed and this buying program," Shiller continued. "It’s a very abnormal market. There’s a lot of uncertainty going forward.”

For more on today's housing market announcement, go here.

To see the U.S. Housing Department's monthly market scorecards, go here.

Read more of Neon Tommy's economy coverage here.

Reach Executive Producer Lauren Madow here. Follow her here.